About Tom Guertin Expertise I can answer Desktop and Laptop hardware questions as well as software questions. I have worked as a programmer 9 years, test/QA 9 years, and system administration 7 years. Having a diverse background helps in diagnosing computer problems.
Experience Rocket Software Oct 14, 2002 – Present
Senior Systems Engineer: Responsible for all software and hardware installations, analysis, and support on all desktops and laptops. Support 200 remote employees along with 5 remote sites. Build servers, test, and build systems. Manage Active Directory, Exchange, Call Manager, and Unity accounts.
EMC Corporation Dec 31, 1999 – Nov 11, 2001
Senior Software QA Team Lead Engineer: Responsible for full software quality assurance of EMC's SymAPI and SymCLI software for Base and Control functionality.
Created full regression test suite in perl.
Peritus Software Services Sep 4, 1994 – Mar 30, 2001
Senior Software Engineer: Maintain outsourced code for CV, BULL, DG (UNIX), and Stratus (UNIX). Assist Y2K renovation team as project leader and COBOL renovator for Y2K compliance.
Team leader for as many as 21 engineers.
Supported DG AOS/VS II and AVIION (UNIX) communications products and AOS/VS II Databases. Maintained DG’s patch download website by modifying the XML web page, making each fix available.
Sys admin for both DG AOS/VS II and AVIION (UNIX) platforms.
BULL Worldwide Information Systems Inc. Aug 1988 – Sep 1994
Senior Software Engineer: Designed, Developed, Maintained, and Component Tested File System, Printer, and Device Utilities in an ISO 9000 environment using Assembly and C.
Maintained 21 utilities, fixing all problems within company wide goal.
Re-wrote 5 utilities in assembly with only 1 reported problem since 1989.
Maintained a Dump Analysis Utility, which enables users to follow system structures, dump group information, and analyze memory.
SQA component tested all DPS6 utilities.
KRAFT Inc., Dairy Group Oct 1986 - Aug 1988
Computer Programmer: Designed and developed a program that accounts for all maintenance parts, repairs, and moneys using DBASE III Plus.
Purchasing agent for all building and machine maintenance.
Education/Credentials EDUCATION: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Major: BS. Computer Systems Engineering
Question During video viewing on all applications (DVD, Youtube, Netflix, VLC), the screen is far too dark during night sequences or any scene where there is limited lighting. I can make out far less than I am supposed to (I have checked the DVD in a regular DVD player). I have adjusted contrast/brightness on my monitor to no effect. I have a Dell E310, am running Windows XP. I don't have any other info regarding my video card or display drive. This problem has existed since the machine was purchased.
Answer Everett,
Since this is the way the system was when it was purchased, there may not be anything you can do. First I would update all the system software and drivers in case they made software changes to fix problems like your:
Downloading Drivers
Go to your system manufacturer’s website, Compaq.com, Dell.com, HP.com, IBM/Lenovo.com, etc…
Click Support and look for Downloads or Drivers
Enter your system information and OS
Download the latest drivers
Note: Some of these sites keep a physical list so you may need to sort by Newest First and then keep track of the drivers you download. This is because they may have updated video drivers 3 times and you just want the latest.
After this, if nothing has changed, try another monitor. Borrow one for the test. This will tell you if the monitor you received was defective from the factory. If it's under warrantee, maybe you could get it replaced for free.
